My day yesterday did not exactly go as planned.

I woke up when my alarm went off at 4:30am and got up quietly, getting ready to go. It was then that the niggle started at the back of my brain. Wait, when was the train? I pulled out some papers and looked. 5:55am. It took an hour and a half to get from my place to New Haven to catch the train. I did some quick math. …… crap. Apparently I’m not good at math at midnight when setting alarms.

I drove above the speed limit the whole way, but to no avail – I missed the 6:00 train and had to catch the 7:00. Not a huge deal, except for the small matter of the shuttle bus I had planned to use to get from the subway station in Brooklyn to the conference. I would now arrive too late. I figured I’d just take a taxi. I didn’t know exactly how close to the subway station the conference center was, but I knew it was in the vicinity. It wouldn’t cost much.

I arrived at Grand Central at around 8:30. From there I hopped onto a subway (or two) and rode into Brooklyn. I got off at the correct station and got my bearings. Now all I had to do was hail a cab. I’d never done that before. I’ve ridden in a taxi exactly twice before, and neither time did I actually catch one off the street.

After a few minute of waiting I raised my arm at the sight of a cab. He pulled in. How easy was that! I felt very pleased with myself. I slid into the back seat and pulled out the conference info. “15 Washington Ave,” I told him. He mumbled something in a heavy accent. “Cross street? No, I don’t know the cross street. It’s on the water, though.” He pulled out a map and mumbled some more. Then we pulled away from the curb and I sat back. There was a screen in front of me with a map and some ad playing. How neat! I played with it. I glanced at the running meter, wondering if it would be under 5.00. It should be close. I glanced at street signs, hoping to see Washington Ave soon.

Instead I saw the Brooklyn Bridge. This alarmed me. Quite a bit, in fact. Especially when we started going over it. The map in front of me confirmed that we were indeed on the Brooklyn Bridge. “Ummm. Are you sure this is where we’re supposed to go?” He mumbled something again. I fidgetted in my seat. Maybe we were going the long way around? I swallowed a lump, looked at the clock which told me I was very late for the conference, and nervously looked out the window. We turned onto a highway which appeared to be going north. Okay, this is definitely not right. Not right at all. I leaned forward. “You know it’s in Brooklyn??” I said loudly.

“Brooklyn?!” he responded in a shrieky, accented voice. “Why you not tell me? Oh my god!” Oh fucking fantastic. My cabbie had no freaking clue where he was going.

He ended up turning around and getting us back on the Brooklyn Bridge and heading back into Brooklyn. He started asking me questions about where Washington Street is. “I don’t KNOW!” I told him, exaspirated. “I’m not from New York! I know it’s on the water, and close to the subway station! You’re supposed to know where it is!” He turned pulled out his map again and mumbled to himelf while consulting it. Then he turned onto some side streets. I – hahahaha – thought he had figured it out. Until we started driving up and down side streets, that is. I guess he was looking for it, hoping it would jump out at him.

Finally I’d had enough of this bullshit and told him I was very LATE, did he know where Washington Ave WAS?? No answer. I told him I would get another cab, let me out! He pulled over. He asked for 10 dollars, which was far less than what the meter read, and I gave it to him just wanting to be done with it, even though in my mind he owed ME for getting me lost.

Is there some unwritten rule that says you need to furnish your cabbie with a map to get to where you’re going? Somehow I thought they’d know how to get from point A to point B in their own city, that they’d own maps or something. And at the very least I would have hoped that the cabbie would TELL me that they have no clue and let me fine someone who does know. I mean, where the fuck did he think he was going?

So there I was, standing on some street in Brooklyn, no clue where I was going, and not even where I started though I had a rough idea how to get back there. And now I was extremely gun-shy about hailing another taxi. So I started walking. It was around here somewhere.

I asked several people if they knew where Washington Ave was. Half of them had no clue. One guy looked it up on his ipod and pointed me in the right direction. I walked.

There were points during that walk when I was near tears, let me tell you. I hate being late. I missed my train. My taxi cab got me lost. And now I didn’t even know where the fuck I was going. I had no map. I was just walking in that general direction, hoping I’d find it. And every time I stopped somewhere to ask where Washington Ave was for confirmation, they hadn’t a clue. Don’t these people know anything?! Freaking useless. A cop confirmed that I was going in the right direction. (There were about 10 cops, standing on a corner bullshitting. This is tax money at work??) I kept walking. And walking. By that time I wanted to grab another cab… but none were in sight. I was in a quiet section, not much traffic. No taxis passed me at all. So I kept walking.

Finally I glanced up and there it was. I stopped dead and did a double take. I looked to my left and there was the huge sign that proclaimed Steiner Studios.

I arrived I think right around 9:30. I later looked up my hike on google maps to discover that I walked over 2 miles. (Strangely, though, I wasn’t even out of breath when I got there. Obviously I’m in better shape than I thought.) I was tired, I was cranky, but I was relieved.

(I’ll write about the conference itself later. I’m tired and need to unwind.)